Why argue about creationism versus evolution?
I asked the question (approximately) about whether the growth of the creationist/ID movement would help destroy the USA’s competitive advantage, when China and India are coming up on the blind side. It’s interesting that (I think) nobody chose to answer the question in terms of the USA’s competitive advantage, but plunged straight into creationism/ID vs. evolution. I tried to add to the argument with a posting earlier today about the decline in Islamic science in some countries – mostly Pakistan – where ‘science’ has to be done according to the Koran. The primary reason that I posed the question(s) was: there is a growing movement to get ID into schools, or into home-schooling, and indeed the ID fraternity created a document about their ‘wedge’ strategy for getting it into schools – the document was leaked. Although there have been some very strong and well-thought-out judicial rulings, they have only been at a local level; and I quoted one senior public figure (Tom Delay) saying that
The big question is usually given as some form of “why are we here, and what is our purpose?” Seeking an answer to that question and all the questions that stem from it and lead to it is perhaps the central goal of study of all sorts. Enlightenment, whether it be through science or religion, study or meditation, thinking really hard on your own or trusting someone else who sounds likes they know the answers, is about finding the answers to these questions. So of course it’s natural that we find it interesting and worth discussing when two current opinions on this fundamental topic are so radically different from each other. In one corner, we have firm belief that the most faithfully preserved written record in history is completely accurate in its description of a creation five thousand, seven hundred, sixty eight years ago (on a Monday in what would later be called October) by an all-powerful and all-loving God. Fifty eight hundred years or more ago, there was nothing, not even time i
